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National Book Festival 2002-2006 



Photo by Christian Alfaro 


Written by Charlynn Spencer Pyne 
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress 
Washington, DC 20540 
February 2007 


http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook 











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The Pavilion of the States at the National Book Festival 


O n September 30, 2006, at 7:46 p.m., “Exit2Eden” 
posted this message on the Radio Paradise Forum 
at http://www.radioparadise.com: 

“My friend Pam and I had a great time at the 
National Book Festival today! ... I really enjoyed the 
Pavilion of the States where library and literacy repre¬ 
sentatives from every state, plus American Samoa, 
Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands were in 
attendance. They had a map [of the United States] for 
kids, where they got a stamp or sticker [put on the 
map] at each state’s table. [Several] authors and illustra¬ 
tors from their respective states were at their state tables 
signing autographs, books, etc. Pam and I tried to col¬ 
lect library bookmarks from each state.” 

While there are no precise counts of visitors to the 
National Book Festival pavilions, each year eyewitnesses 
have agreed that the Pavilion of the States—with hand¬ 
outs and exhibits from across the entire nation—is the 
busiest of all of the pavilions. 

The National Book Festival was first held in 2001. 
The brainchild of First Lady Laura Bush, who hosts the 
annual fall event, it is organized and sponsored by the 
Library of Congress (LC). According to LC officials, 
attendance has steadily grown from twenty-five thou¬ 
sand participants that first year to more than one hun¬ 
dred thousand participants in 2006. And the festival has 
gradually moved from the East Lawn of the U.S. Capi¬ 
tol and LC’s Capitol Hill campus, to the National Mall; 
it now stretches from Seventh Street to Fourteenth 
Street. 

“I anticipate this one-day festival the way a kid looks 
to Christmas,” wrote “Igar” at <http://www.IgoUgo. 
com>, a Website where travelers post reviews and pho¬ 
tos. He continued: 

“Somehow—and this is the thing I admire most 
about the festival—it has avoided becoming too ‘Wash¬ 
ingtonian’ or geared toward policy wonks; it’s become 
an extremely popular family event . . . Since the festival 
is refreshingly non-stuffy and egalitarian, it caters to just 
about every taste. Avid readers of romance novels and 
readers of weighty historical tomes alike will find some¬ 
thing of interest ... In fact, the hardest part of attend¬ 
ing the festival is deciding which sessions to attend.” 

The National Book Festival, which is free and open 
to the public, is made possible principally by private 
sector support. Target has been the “Distinguished 
Benefactor,” or largest financial supporter, since 2005. 
Other current supporters include AT&T and the Wash¬ 
ington Post (“Charter Sponsors”), the James Madison 
Council and AAR? (“Patrons”), and Barnes & Noble, 
PBS, Penguin Group USA, and Scholastic, Inc. 
(“Contributors”). 


The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress 
(CFB), which plays a key role in the National Book Fes¬ 
tival, was established in 1977 as a public-private partner¬ 
ship to stimulate public interest in books, reading, 
literacy, and libraries. There are affiliate centers for the 
book in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. 

The Pavilion of the States, which is organized and 
managed by the Center for the Book, and coordinated 
by Anne Boni, program specialist, made its debut in 



Anne Boni, who organizes the Pavilion of the States, with Robert 
Martin, IMLS director from 2001 to 2005, at the 2003 reception 
held at the U.S. Botanic Garden (photo by Charlynn Spencer Pyne) 


2002. Since the beginning, the Institute of Museum and 
Library Services (IMLS) has sponsored, through grants 
administered by the Chief Officers of State Library 
Agencies (COSLA), participation in the pavilion’s activi¬ 
ties by representatives from state libraries and state cen¬ 
ters for the book. 

The National Endowment for the Humanities 
(NEH) also supports the participation of the state cen¬ 
ters that are hosted by state humanities councils. 

After the 2006 National Book Festival, Anne-Imelda 
Radice, director of IMLS noted: “The Pavilion of the 
States gets more and more popular each year.” She 
continued: “A visit to the pavilion is like a grand tour 
around the whole country. Every state is different, and 
every state’s special culture is reflected in the writing of 
their native authors and in the special programs and 
services they promote. But it’s also just a lot of fun! The 
kids who visited particularly enjoyed it.” 

Mary Chute, deputy director for Library Services, 
IMLS, added: “The Pavilion of the States has grown to 
be one of the most popular venues at the National Book 
Festival . . . The throng of children, teens, and adults 
who line up at their home state’s tables each year is 
vibrant testimony that America is truly a nation of 


1 









lifelong learners. The 
Institute of Museum 
and Library Services 
is pleased to have 
sponsored the Pavil¬ 
ion of the States 
again this year.” 

After the success¬ 
ful debut of the 
Pavilion of the States 
in 2002, CFB Direc¬ 
tor John Y. Cole 
said: “We were both 
overwhelmed and 
delighted with the 
response. Each state 
brought its own pro¬ 
motional materials 
which ranged from 
state road maps and 
state literary maps to 
pencils, bookmarks, 
and even a ‘reading 
rules in Pennsylva¬ 
nia’ twelve-inch ruler. The pavilion provides a snapshot 
of how reading, literacy, and libraries are promoted 
across America.” 

In the months leading up to the National Book Festi¬ 
val in 2002, the Pavilion of the States was 
promoted nationally in twenty-two state cen¬ 
ters through a grant from AT&T and the 
Carnegie Corporation of New York. 

Arkansas promoted the festival through a 
series of storytelling programs; Missouri 
sponsored a poetry writing contest with a 
trip to the National Book Festival as the 
grand prize; Maine hosted a reception hon¬ 
oring the state’s humanities scholars and a 
poetry reading—and invited Cole to speak 
about the book festival. Cole, who coordi¬ 
nates the festival’s author program, is a 
member of the Library’s National Book 
Festival steering committee, which is chaired 
by LC’s Chief Operating Officer Jo Ann 
Jenkins. Other members include Roberta 
Stevens, Development Office, who serves as 
project manager, and Sue Siegel, acting 
director of the Development Office. 

Cole also spoke at promotional events in 
New Jersey—where the Newark Public 
Library was designated the state’s first liter¬ 
ary landmark, and New York—where the 
New York Center for the Book held its pre¬ 
miere literary event at Columbia University. 


He also participated in one of four CBS radio programs 
produced by the Wisconsin Center for the Book that 
promoted the National Book Festival. Minnesota held a 
bookstore-based People’s Choice Award contest; and 
California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, 
Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, 
Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia pro¬ 
moted the National Book Festival through media 
blitzes, author awards programs, “One Book” launches, 
and state book festivals. 

Forty-one states, the District of Columbia, and 
four U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, Puerto 
Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) sent representatives 
to staff tables in the Pavilion of the States in 2002; 
they were joined by volunteers from congressional 
offices, state societies, AT&T Pioneers, and members of 
the Library of Congress staff. Since 2003 all fifty states, 
the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories have 
sent representatives or, in the case of Hawaii, tapped 
state society members to staff tables in the Pavilion of 
the States. 

Also in 2002, the Discover Great Places Through 
Reading map made its debut, courtesy of COSLA, with 
the cooperation of the Library of Congress and with 
special thanks to Mary Kay Dahlgreen, who coordinated 
preparation of the bibliography—“52 great reads about 
great places”—on the map’s back tri-fold. Each state 
selects a title for the bibliography. From 2003 through 
2006 Frannie Ashburn coordinated the bibliography. 



(From left) Robert Trio, Karen Motglewski, Don Delauter, IMLS Deputy Director 
for Library Services Mary Chute, and Robin Cabot staff the IMLS table in the 2004 
Pavilion of the States (photo by Nancy Alfaro). 



IMLS Director Anne-Imelda Radice 
with book festival author Elmer Kelton 
in the 2006 Pavilion of the States 
(photo by Patricia Fisher) 


2 





















CFB Director John Cole with a delegation of Russian librarians at the 2003 reception at the U.S. Botanic Garden (photo by Charlynn Spencer Pyne) 


In 2003, the Center for the Book and IMLS began 
hosting a “networking” reception the evening before 
the National Book Festival. The reception was held in 
the scenic United States Botanic Garden in 2003 and 
2005. In 2004, State Pavilion staffers joined the recep¬ 
tion for authors held in the Great Hall of LC’s Jefferson 
Building, and in 2006 the reception was held in the 
beautiful Caucus Room of the Cannon House Office 
Building. 

In addition to thirty-minute presentations in pavil¬ 
ions such as “Fiction & Fantasy,” “History & Biogra¬ 
phy,” “Mysteries & Thrillers,” and “Teens & Children,” 
and one-hour book signing sessions, book festival par¬ 
ticipants and other authors often are scheduled to visit 
their respective state tables. 

At the 2003 National Book Festival, authors P. Allen 
Smith (Arkansas), David Baldacci (Virginia), Carolyn G. 
Hart (Oklahoma), Susan Power (Minnesota), Jane Yolen 
(Massachusetts), Barbara Damrosch (Maine), and Janet 
Wong (Washington) visited the Pavilion of the States. 

In addition, Connecticut State Book Award winner and 
best-selling author Wally Lamb, mystery writer Laura 
Lippman (Maryland), Native American poet Kathryn 
Akipa (South Dakota), author Frank X. Mullen dressed 
as mountain man Caleb Greenwood (Nevada), chil¬ 
dren’s author Julie Baker (West Virginia), and Christie 
Vilsack, Iowa’s first lady and founder of the Iowa Cen¬ 
ter for the Book, also spent time at their respective 
state’s table in the Pavilion of the States. 

At the 2004 National Book Festival, mystery writer 
Dana Stabenow (Alaska), historians Douglas Brinkley 
(Louisiana) and Nathaniel Philbrick (Massachusetts), 
Newbery Medal winners Patricia MacLachlan (Massa¬ 
chusetts) and Kate DiCamillo (Minnesota), Poet 


Laureate Ted Kooser (Nebraska), children’s author and 
illustrator Floyd Cooper (New Jersey), and biographer 
Ron Chernow (New York) made visits to the Pavilion of 
the States to meet and greet book festival attendees. 

The 2005 National Book Festival was held on Sep¬ 
tember 24, the day that Hurricane Rita made landfall 
near the Texas-Louisiana border, and approximately one 
month after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf 
Coast region. The Pavilion of the States was the kickoff 
site for the LC/First Book Book Relief project. (First 
Book, a partner of the Center for the Book, was found¬ 
ed in 1992 to provide children in low-income families 
with the opportunities to read and own their first new 
books.) At the Idea Exchange Day held by the Center 
for the Book for its reading promotion partners on 
March 21, 2006, Linda Lancaster, First Book’s senior 
vice president for national outreach, explained that the 
Book Relief project is committed to delivering five mil¬ 
lion books to the children affected by hurricanes Rita 
and Katrina. She said: “We launched the [Book Relief] 
project in September at the National Book Festival, and 
First Lady Laura Bush participated. Since October, 
we’ve been to the Gulf Coast states to distribute books 
eight times ... As of today, we have reached the half¬ 
way mark, and First Book thanks all of our Book Relief 
supporters and partners.” 

Participating authors who visited the Pavilion of the 
States at the 2005 National Book Festival included mys¬ 
tery writer Marcia Muller (California), children’s author 
and Maryland resident Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (West 
Virginia, the location of her Newbery Medal winner 
Shiloh ), mystery writer Laura Lippman (Maryland), 
young adult author Walter Dean Myers (New Jersey), 
illustrator Wendell Minor (Connecticut), children’s 


3 















(From left) Chief Operating Officer Jo Ann Jenkins, National Book Festival Manager 
Roberta A. Stevens, and Acting Director of the Development Office Susan K. Siegel in 
the 2003 Pavilion of the States (photo by Charlynn Spencer Pyne). 


author Jack Gantos (Massachusetts), and best-selling 
novelist David Baldacci (Virginia). In addition, New 
Hampshire children’s author Jennifer Ericsson—whose 
Home to Me, Home to Ton is included in “52 great 
reads about great places” bibliography—and the 2005 
Letters About Literature national winners Latricia Shaw 
(Oregon), Mitchell Deck (Illinois), Gabe Goodman 
(Colorado), Amy Tai (Oklahoma), Hannah Danielle 
Pierce (Virginia), and Edward Chen (Iowa) also spent 
time greeting fairgoers at their respective state’s table in 
the Pavilion of the States. 

Letters about Literature , a signature promotional ini¬ 
tiative of the Center for the Book in partnership with 
Target Stores, is a national reading and writing program 
that encourages young people to read, be inspired, and 
write to an author—past or present—who has somehow 
changed their view of the world or of themselves. 

Authors participating in the 2006 National Book Fes¬ 
tival who visited the Pavilion of the States included chil¬ 
dren’s author Shelia P. Moses, a resident of Atlanta, 


whose novel, I, Dred Scott , was selected 
by two states for the “52 great reads 
about great places” bibliography (Georgia 
and Missouri); young adult author 
Richard Peck (Illinois), Western writer 
Elmer Kelton (Texas), forensic anthropol¬ 
ogist and mystery writer Kathy Reichs 
(North Carolina), young adult novelist 
Terry Trueman (Washington state), 
author, storyteller, singer, and song¬ 
writer John McCutcheon (Virginia), 
historian Douglas Brinkley (Louisiana), 
children’s author Andrew Clements 
(Massachusetts), children’s author and 
illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi (Massachu¬ 
setts), artist and illustrator Kadir Nelson 
(California), and a Teacher of the Year 
and Coretta Scott King Award winner 
Sharon Draper (Ohio). 

In addition, Illinois author Ray Elliot, New Hamp¬ 
shire author Donna Ciocca, whose Harley & Homer is 
included in the “52 great reads about great places” bib¬ 
liography, South Dakota author Kent Meyers, explorer 
and Letters about Literature author Peter Jenkins 
(Connecticut), West Virginia author Jan McQuaid, and 
Oregon Poet Laureate Lawson Fusao Inada also visited 
or worked at their state’s table in the Pavilion of the 
States. The Letters About Literature contest winners— 
Phillip Brockman (North Dakota), Britney Titensor 
(Wyoming), Lacie Craven (Maine), Sophia Harrington 
(Connecticut-who wrote to Peter Jenkins), Jeehyun 
Choi (Minnesota), and Martha Park (Tennessee) also 
dropped in for visits to their respective state’s table fol¬ 
lowing their morning award ceremony in the Teens & 
Children’s Pavilion. 

The 2007 National Book Festival will be held on 
Saturday, September 29, on the National Mall. □ 


4 












Special Guests in the 2003 and 2004 Pavilion of the States 



(3) 




(1) 2003 book festival author David Baldacci; (2) poet Kathryn Akipa 
(left) with Peggy Williams, Gettysburg [South Dakota] Public Library; 
(3) Iowa’s First Lady Christie Vilsack with Cole; (4) 2004 book festival 
author Dana Stabenow; and (5) Cole (left) and author Frank X. 

Mullen dressed as Caleb Greenwood (allphotos by Patricia Fisher) 


(4)_ 


■1 


5 










































Special Guests in the 2003 and 2004 Pavilion of the States (cont.) 




(1) 2004 book festival author Nathaniel Philbrick; (2) 2004 book 
festival author Patricia MacLachlan; (3) 2004 book festival author 
Kate DiCamillo (left); (4) 2004 book festival author and illustrator 
Floyd Cooper; and (5) (from left) Chuck Peek, Nebraska Center 
for the Book, Mary Jo Ryan, Nebraska Center for the Book, and 
U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, a Nebraska native (allphotos by 
Patricia Fisher) 



6 






































Special Guests in the 2005 Pavilion of the States 



(1) New Hampshire map- 
bibliography author Jennifer 
Ericsson; (2) book festival 
author Jack Gantos and Sharon 
Shaloo (right), coordinator for 
the Massachusetts Center for the 
Book; (3) (from left) Jackie 
Spitzer, Renee Swartz, coordina¬ 
tor for New Jersey Center for 
the Book, and book festival 
author Walter Dean Myers; 

(4) Cole and book festival 
author Laura Lippman; (5) book 
festival author Phyllis Reynolds 
Naylor (seated); (6) First Book 
President Kyle Zimmer and 
Cole, and (7) Kat Lyons (left), 
coordinator for the Connecticut 
Center for the Book, with book 
festival illustrator Wendell Minor 
(photos by Patricia Fisher) 





7 


















































Special Guests in the 2006 Pavilion of the States 

(1) (From left) Basu Baksi, Margaret Collins, and book festival author Douglas Brinkley; (2) New Hampshire map-bibliography author Donna 
Ciocca; (3) book festival author Andrew Clements; (4) book festival author Tony DeTerlizzi; (5) (from left) Cal Zunt, book festival author Sharon 
Draper, and Ron Antonucci; and (6) Virginia Center for the Book coordinator Susan Coleman, book festival author John McCutcheon, and 
Nancy Damon (all photos by Patricia Fisher) 



8 










































Special Guests in the 2006 Pavilion of the States (cont.) 

(1) David Raker, Georgia State Library, and book festival author Shelia Moses; (2) (from left) Marge Kudrina, Missouri State Library, 
author Shelia Moses, and Gabriel Shapiro, Missouri State Library; (3) book festival author Kadir Nelson (right); (4) (from left) book festival 
author Richard Peck and Illinois author Ray Elliot; (5) (from left) North Carolina Center for the Book coordinator Frannie Ashburn, book 
festival author Kathy Reichs, and North Carolina State Librarian Mary Boone; (6) (from left) Jane Pinkson and Letters About Literature winner 
Martha Park, and (7) (from left) Ellen Titensor, Letters About Literature winner Britney Titensor, Dillon and Mitch Titensor (all photos by 
Patricia Fisher) 



9 




































The Pavilion of the States at the 2002 National Book Festival 


(1) Allen Cronenberg, Alabama Center for the Book; (2) Librarian of Congress James H. Billington (2nd from right) at the U.S. territories table 
with (from left) Annette Diaz de Fortuno, Ingrid Bough, and Edgar Lake; (3) Mary Redmond, New York State Library; (4) MaryKay Dahlgreen, 
Oregon Center for the Book; (5) CFB Director John Cole with Virginia Lowell, Hawaii State Library; and (6) Patricia Pasqual, District of 
Columbia Center for the Book (photos (1) and (2) by Charlynn Spencer Pyne, photos (3) through (6) by Fern Underdue) 



10 


















































The Pavilion of the States 2003-2006 



(1) Kathy Barco and Robert Upton, New 
Mexico State Library, at the 2003 book festi¬ 
val; (2) Glenda Carlile, Oklahoma State 
Library and Oklahoma Center for the Book, 
at the 2003 book festival; (3) Bill Wilson, 
Wisconsin Center for the Book, at the 2003 
book festival; (4) Stephanie Bailey-White, 
Idaho State Library, at the 2005 book festi¬ 
val; (5) Jim Hollinger, Pennsylvania Center 
for the Book, Geoffrey Marvin, age nine, 
and Maria Marvin, Pennsylvania Center 
for the Book, at the 2005 book festival; 

(6) Bonnie McCune and Nance Nassar, 
Colorado State Library, at the 2006 book 
festival; (7) (from left) Charles Kolb, 

National Endowment for the Humanities 
(NEH), Cole, and Jennifer Serventi, NEH, 
at the 2006 book festival, and (8) (from left) 
American Library Association Executive 
Director Keith Michael Fields and 
Springfield, Virginia, school librarian Joyce 
Juliana at the 2006 book festival, (photo #8 
by Charlynn Spencer Pyne, all other photos by 
Patricia Fisher) 




11 






























































The Pavilion of the States 2003-2006 (cont.) 


(1) (From left) Lizz Sinclair and Carolyn Sloan, 
Maine Humanities Council, at the 2005 book 
festival; (2) Eileen McNally, coordinator of 
the Florida Center for the Book, at the 2006 
book festival; (3) Mark Sherouse, executive 
director of the Montana Committee for the 
Humanities, at the 2004 book festival; (4) 

(from left) Lee, a Junior League volunteer and 
Connie Crowe, Kentucky Book Fair, at the 
2006 book festival; (5) (from left) Tracy Carr 
and Ethel Ewing, Mississippi State Library, at 
the 2006 book festival; (6) (from left) Jerry 
Hurvis, an Arlington, Virginia, grandfather, 
John Green, and Jeri Openshaw, Utah State 
Library, at the 2006 book festival, and (7) 

Boni, Amy Howlett, Vermont State Library, 
and Cole at the 2006 book festival (photo #6 by 
Charlynn Spencer Pyne, all other photos by 
Patricia Fisher) 





12 


























































LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



0 018 692 064 8 



THE CENTER FOR THE BOOK 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 























































